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arXiv · 2512.02514

Low-temperature thermal conductivity of the substrate material YAlO3 and its unconventional sister compound YbAlO3

Parisa Mokhtari·Ulrike Stockert·Stanislav E. Nikitin·Leonid Vasylechko·Manuel Brando·Elena Hassinger
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Abstract

We present thermal conductivity data on single crystals of YAlO3 and YbAlO3 for temperatures between 2 K and 300 K and the heat current along b and c. Both materials are very good thermal conductors in the investigated temperature range. The thermal conductivity in these electrical insulators is due to phonons. The effect of Y-Yb exchange is found to be rather small despite the considerable difference in density and average atomic mass. For YAlO3 we find a moderate thermal conductivity anisotropy with weak temperature dependence and a ratio of c to b direction between at most 1 and 2.2. It is discussed with regard to the velocities of sound and relevant scattering processes. For YbAlO3 the small crystal size limits the precision of absolute thermal conductivity values and does not allow drawing conclusions on the anisotropy. Our results on YAlO3 confirm that the material is suitable for applications requiring a good thermal conductivity at temperatures down to liquid helium, such as lasers, substrates, and detectors.

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Parisa Mokhtari, Ulrike Stockert, Stanislav E. Nikitin, Leonid Vasylechko, Manuel Brando, Elena Hassinger. 2025-12-02. Low-temperature thermal conductivity of the substrate material YAlO3 and its unconventional sister compound YbAlO3. https://doi.org/10.1103/k3d6-py1z

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